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By Susan McNeil

STIs in Saskatchewan

Syphilis rates doubling every year in Sask.

Aug 16, 2022 | 4:00 PM

Syphilis is growing in Saskatchewan with cases doubling every year.

In 2021, 1,940 cases of the sexually transmitted infection were reported, excluding the population living on reserves. Of those, 248 were in Prince Albert and area.

Dr. Mandiangu Nsungu, the chief medical officer of health for Northwest Saskatchewan, said the numbers are very concerning.

“The numbers have been doubling every year and if you look at a map of Saskatchewan, the most affected areas are in the north,” he said.

Syphilis rates are growing in Sask. and double virtually every year. (Submitted image/Saskatchewan Health Authority)

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As is the case in syphilis cases reported by Health Canada for people living on reserves, along with the increase in syphilis is an increase in HIV infection.

Both diseases are concentrated in the 20- to 39-year-old population but are not limited to that age range.

Another concerning aspect is the amount of babies born and contracting congenital syphilis.

In 2018 and before that, no babies were born with the infection. In 2019, two were born and in 2021, there were 25 infants infected.

The potential long-term consequences for the baby can be very serious, including bone damage, enlarged livers and spleens, jaundice and nerve problems causing blindness/deafness and severe anemia.

paNOW recently reported on how syphilis has impacted on reserve populations and, in those cases, six infants were still-born due to mothers infected with the bacteria.

The off-reserve population is just as impacted, growing from eight cases in 2012 to 924 in 2020 and the unofficial total of 1,940 last year, a rate of 161 per 100,000.

Nsungu said the province is changing some gears when it comes to efforts to reduce the numbers.

As a bacterial infection, syphilis is treatable with penicillin, Nsungu explained, but that is just the start.

“It is not enough to treat them, you have to follow up,” he said.

Patients have more options for where they can be treated, whether at their doctor’s office, a sexual health clinic or in the ambulatory care, which in Prince Albert is in the Victoria Hospital.

Pregnant women are now being tested three times, once in their first trimester, again in the third and right after delivery with the goal being to treat as early as possible.

“And if the mom is positive, the baby will be tested as well,” Nsungu said.

The province is also creating an outbreak investigating committee which will approach STIs as a provincial issue rather than a regional one.

Another move to reduce the transmission of STIs is to have vending machines for condoms and clean needles available publicly.

One is planned for Prince Albert but a location has not yet been decided. North Battleford has had one since 2019 and Nipawin will soon be getting one.

“We will have one at the harm reduction center ‘Connected Care on Railway’ in Nipawin. The vending machine arrived this week and will be in operation in next couple of weeks. We are in the process of working with Cumberland House for a vending machine,” said Anna Dawn Hewitt, executive director for the Primary Health Care South Northeast.

Public health is also fighting another problem, misinformation.

Nsungu said a lot of people think that if they have had syphilis in the past, they now have immunity and that is not the case, and the disease can return.

“The symptoms may go away, but that doesn’t mean the disease will go away,” he said. “People must seek testing.”

Anyone who is exposed will contract the disease again even if they have had it before.

Adults infected with syphilis can have it dormant in their body for decades before it becomes active again.

Left untreated, syphilis causes serious damage to the heart, brain and other organs and can be life-threatening.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com